My First Take: On Microsoft Office vs. Scrivener for Writing

When I started writing my current (and first manuscript; full disclosure, all things considered), I had never heard of Scrivener.

That said, I joined NaNoWriMo to write my first attempt at a novel and heard a lot of other writers tell me how useful and critical Scrivener was to their process.

After NaNo, I purchased Scrivener at the discounted price (for Winners!) and have installed it. From my initial observations, it is definitely more complicated and has many more features geared directly for writers than generic Word processors. I still have not used it that long to outline some of my future stories at this point.

So, I'm going to give an idea of what I DID use, prior to Scrivener. And still do really, on many occasions. I will still feel Scrivener out though.

My primary tools for first manuscript

• Microsoft Word - obviously for the primary writing. I sometimes use Tracked  Changes, but not really. It gets pretty ugly in there with all the changes, if I do. You can definitely accept some changes and move on, but I have been creating XX.X versions of my file for months
• I also used this to create my own "release changes log" for the XX.X versions
• And, I used it to outline my original chapters, give myself notes of what I think I should add and where I should make changes, along with other ideas (in a separate document)
• I would keep yet another document for "discarded" texts that I thought maybe could be re-used at some other point in the story.
• Microsoft Excel - I later moved the chapter outline with descriptions and key point synopsis into spreadsheet form. Easier to manage.
• In addition, created myself a character spreadsheet to keep track of names, physical descriptions, relationships and key notes
• Both of the above actually allow PDF generation too, so I often used them to create versions for beta reads. So my beta readers primarily used Adobe Reader.
• A lot of people prefer using Word in beta reads, but I (perhaps evilly) ask the beta readers to point out things that distract them from the story, or their favorite or least favorite moments. They can also still comment in PDFs, but I'd rather the final edits be mine
• Also, there's a nice tool to PDFProtect online (www.pdfprotect.net). I sure hope it's relatively safe.
• If anyone has any info about concerns/praise for the above or other tools, I'd be interested to hear about it!

Of course, later on, I created additional documents: "generic" questions for beta readers (just found some nice questions to ask online), more detailed story-specific questions to see if I actually conveyed the story well to the reader, a draft of my email to agents, a draft of my story synopsis, etc.

If you've been keeping track (and if you have, wow, bravo), that means:

• At least 8 Word documents
• 1 spreadsheet with at least 4 tabs: characters, chapters, beta readers list, potential agent targets
• A large # of PDFs generated

We haven't even covered book covers yet, which is a separate topic altogether.

So, you can see how Scrivener, which can help merge a lot of information and references together can be extremely useful. Hopefully, as I get more experience with it (alongside my more standard tool usage), I can give more insight.

My initial assessment is that it's fairly complicated and takes some getting used to. It may be just the tool for folks needing a little help in staying organized, especially if you have a lot of sub-plots and characters.

I'm pretty organized from my day-job and experience, so at the moment, I've been sticking to the tried-and-true old tools. Not to be a dinosaur, but they work OK for me. I'm still going to explore Scrivener more though.

I'd be interested to hear again from others though, if people have specific details as to why they chose which route!

Until then, Happy Holidays!

First Agent Query Response

This is miraculous. Miraculously coincidental.

Yesterday, I wrote about my "first query attempt," which was actually my second. The real, literal first prompted me to make so many changes in my manuscript that I spent many a long night trying to focus on teeny-tiny tidbits of text, all over the freaking large volume of pages I'd drafted.

Today, I actually received an email back from the literal first query attempt, to my surprise.

I will withhold the woman's name for her privacy, not that she did anything mean or wrong. On the contrary, she actually uplifted my spirits a bit, when I read her response.

It was brief. It was to the point. It was basically a NO unfortunately.

So, why was I uplifted in spirit? Because, it was my first query and I actually heard back.

Her short email was as follows:

Thank you for your query. Please know I carefully considered your project, but I don't feel I can offer representation at this time.  The marketplace is more selective than ever and I must keep a modest list. 

Keep going with it, there are numerous agents out there that may be a good fit. I wish you the best of luck!

Now honestly, I don't know if this is just something she says to all rejects and writing addicts that reach out to her. It could very well just be a form letter. If someone has heard a similar email in these exact words, I would be interested to hear about it in the comments.

There is no doubt that the above is a negative response. But I latched on to "carefully considered" and "Keep going with it!" I sure hope those were sincere words. They felt that way, which means either I'm naïve or that agent just has a knack for messaging in the brief. Could certainly be both.

The version I sent her was only v11.5 of my manuscript (you can think of that as something like the 115th edit of some sort). I'm now on v13.4. Probably means about 20 revisions or so between the two. Though I looked and I think the major story lines shared were the same. Just tightening of the story and prose itself, I think.

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EDIT/UPDATE (2013 Dec 28): I should also say that on the flip side, the other way to interpret the Agent's email is that: "I still have work to do." Obviously, she had other works that she found more promising than my own. Not to be too dark. But I have to use that as motivation to keep improving!

Another thing I find interesting is that I first turned to the positive there. That's good news for me, though certainly unexpected IMHO. Stay tuned for more!
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Anyway, I will try my best to hold firm on the path. Thanks again for reading.

The Asian-American struggle in writing

Playing that race card again today. But I thought it apt to write a little bit about being an Asian-American who also likes to write and make up shiznit.

When I recently told a friend of mine that I had started my foray into the writing world, I explicitly told him that I was merely being introduced to it. Tantalized by its smell and flavors. I loved its new challenges and all the things I learned, trying to pick up the industry, while I tried my hand at penning something of interest.

"Who are you trying to reach?" he asked.

"I'm doing this for me. It's sort of a bucket list thing. I always wanted to write a novel. Hopefully, the side effect will be that people are interested in what I have to say, rather than the direct motive."

"You're crazy," he said. "How do you expect to make money?"

"Well, I haven't quit my day job yet really," I replied. "I did read somewhere that the median annual salary for an author was something like $15,000 though. Ouch!"

"I see. Well... writing. That's very creative of you... for an Asian dude, such as yourself," he finally mused.

Hopefully, I've tied this back to my original thought here: It's tough being an Asian-American writer. I need to find more of them. I know for a fact that I'm not the first, nor the millionth.

But whenever even I think of Asian-American writing, I think of Amy Tan. Who else is out there?

Anyhow, I hope I don't alienate other cultures. Not at all. When I set about writing at first, I promised myself that I wouldn't let my characters be Asian or that I'd use my stories as a platform for things that happened to them. 

I wanted to be "culture-neutral." 

I later realized (I'm slow, OK?) that that's ridiculous. All of my life experience is that of an Asian-American. Things I write about might be touched with tidbits of that subconsciously, even against my very will.

So, I disavow of that promise. I still hope that I can touch the hearts of other readers, or that they can share for a brief moment what I am projecting for my stories. But I can no longer set aside that Asian-American-ness anymore. Nor should I have to really.

You see, writing has given me new confidence too. In some things I always wished to do, like writing. Why not utilize it appropriately and share that? Hopefully, you will agree. 

I will try not to do so without too much in-your-face-ness about it beyond a handful of posts. :)

My first "real" agent submission

Today, I sent in my first "real" query to an agent. I selected one that promises responses to "just the query letter" to see if I could get my first reaction (even if it could in all likelihood be "negative").

We'll see how it goes with my first manuscript. 

• I want to document the process for my own sake, but figured it might be helpful to other aspiring authors.

This is actually the second time I've submitted the query in totality, if all truth be told. The first time, I did so before even getting beta reader feedback, to a more local agent who makes no promises in regard to response (you just have to wait a few weeks or so to know whether they had zero interest). Total rookie mistake?

Immediately after I sent that original query (the one that I'm hedging on and not really counting for myself), I re-read my first three chapters and regretted the submission.

I felt the work was awful. That's easy to do, when you're new, like me. Editing is like housework. It never seems done.

The good news is we can use that insanity (or possibly, more truthful review of our own work). I set about to correcting my mistakes thereafter. 

Oftentimes, we need to push ourselves in ways that instigate changes for improvement -- and this was no exception for me. 

Afterwards, I did the following:

• Altering the first "key" chapters to hook the reader first
• Gathering a list of potential beta readers up to solicit feedback

Beta reader feedback thus far has been extremely useful. The more specific and "gut-wrenching" it has been, the more useful actually. There's been a lot of both and it only serves to realize exactly how readers respond to the pages.

Anyway, just thought I'd announce my initial foray into querying. I am hopeful that I learned from the literal first query and can solicit some good vibes this time around. I won't be holding my breath exactly yet though.

I eagerly await the long road ahead with bated breath. 

Stay tuned for hits to my confidence and ego. :)

The subtleties of being subtle in writing

One very good piece of advice I heard from beta readers and critics of my first manuscript is that for some of the inferences I tried to make, I had to be "less subtle." 

• It's not that the readers didn't understand or couldn't possibly comprehend the depth of my insane musings. 
• It was about communicating that clearly to as many different people as possible.

My current manuscript has an Asian-American as one of the main characters. This is not completely surprising or earth-shattering news to anybody who knows me, as I am an Asian-American myself.

The topic of subtlety came up, when one of my beta readers who had only read the first chapter remarked that she was unaware that the main character was Asian. 

I had named my character Morgan Sam, trying to make it more distinct and memorable (incidentally, finding the right, interesting last name for some character of Chinese descent is difficult-- it's almost always mono-syllabic and often-repeated across the billions of Chinese people out there, so never sounds particularly unique and special: welcome to my world). 

Other exposition and dialogue later revealed this aspect of Asian-hood to other readers, but it surprised me to find this gap out, with the first chapter. It may not have been crucial to identify this trait so early on, but it still irked me a bit.

I guess I immediately identified the last name, Sam, as Chinese. I was thinking about Sam Wo(o) Restaurant, a Chinese eatery with dim sum out here in California. They're used to be two locations, but I'm not sure if either or both have closed. Also, I have a friend who has Chinese friends with the last name of Sam (probably a derivation of San), so I'm not totally discredited here.

That said, I looked up 'Sam' online as a surname and found that my beta reader's insinuation was correct (see: http://www.surnamedb.com/Surname/Sam). Reading that link will tell you that generally, most people, would think of it as a Hebrew or Welsh name!

So, in the end, I changed my character's last name to the ever-common "Lin," like "Jeremy Lin" or Shao Lin (you know, like the temple, or martial arts?) or the many Lins that I have that are relatives. It seemed more placeable to the modern world on evoking that this character, Morgan, was Asian also. 

It is extremely touching and feels fantastic, when you can connect with readers with subtle nuances. When they do, they "get you" and it brings the writer and reader ever-closer together. 

But as you can see, writers (or would-be writers, like myself) need to be extremely careful not to create too far a bridge in their ever-crazy minds, lest they alienate the reader and break the connection entirely.

Maybe I'm the only one who does this, but I figured I'd share my two cents! :)